The stigma of stress
Although it is slowly dying out, there is still, for many, a stigma about stress. People are, on the whole, not keen to admit to it.
- 3 out of 4 men in Britain say they would not go to the GP if they were under stress as they would be afraid that the GP would think that they are 'unbalanced' or 'neurotic'.
- There is a strong link to social factors with stigma being stronger amongst working class men. This may be a reason for men being three times more likely to have a drink problem than women. They may have been afraid to go to the doctor with a stress problem and tried to cope with it by drinking.
- A Scottish Public Attitudes Survey on Mental Health in 2002 found that half of all those who took part said that they would not want anyone to know if they developed a mental health problem.
- About the same number of people thought that the media portrayal of people with mental health problems was more negative than positive.
- Often, people don't think it is stress. Many go to the GP to get help for a body symptom - headaches, upset stomach, heart racing, etc. Some feel quite angry if they are told it is stress.
- If you do feel like this, you may feel stress is a shameful thing. This sense of shame then feeds the stress. The stress makes the sense of shame worse, and so on. This acts like a vicious circle - one thing feeds the other.
- You may have learned to put on a mask to hide stress. This often lets stress build up as often just talking about it can help. It also stops you from seeing how common it is. People often say that once they open up to friends, the friends tell them they also have stress.
Most people would rather have a broken leg than stress. It is easy to see why this is. Compare the two:
| Broken leg | Stress |
|---|---|
| You will know what caused you to break your leg | You often do not know what caused stress |
| You (and others) can see what is wrong | Stress is often invisible - you may look fine on the outside |
| You will know what to do to make it better | You may not know what to do to make it better |
| You will know that it will mend | You may not know if it will get better (without help, stress often gets worse) |
| You will know how long it will take to mend | You may not see a future without stress |
| You will not feel guilty about having a broken leg | You may feel guilty about having stress (due to the stigma) |
Too many of us still think of a broken leg as a real problem while stress is all in the mind. This suggests that all you need a good shake and that, if you really wanted to, you could get rid of it. There are three points to be made here:
- No-one wants to have stress
- The causes of stress are complex
- The reasons that keep it going are complex
If all you needed were to give yourself a good shake, you would gladly have done so. Don't let anyone get on at you for having stress - ask them to look at this website instead. If they still get on at you then why worry about people who have such a simple view of life.
While views about mental health are changing and becoming more realistic, there is still a long way to go.
